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Pelé was a soccer star at age 16 and became a sports legend over the next four World Cup tournaments, scoring 12 goals and leading Brazil (this year’s host country) to three victories. Now 73, he says he still has three loves: family, futebol, and the public. His latest book is called Why Soccer Matters.

You were the star of all your teams. Did you also see yourself as their leader?

I never wanted to be a leader. But everybody knows my history. It came naturally. All the focus was on me. I just tried to pass on my best to the other players, to tell them what I thought was important in my life. We had our coaches off the field, and I had very good relationships with them because they gave me the freedom to work. But sometimes the field is so big they can’t talk to the players, so you have to help pass the message, organize the team, be the leader.

But you were never a team captain.

No. Reporters at press conferences would always ask me about that, and I would tell them, “Listen, I don’t need to be captain. If we have another player as captain, then there are two leaders in the game.”

How did you go about helping to coach your teammates?

In my first year at the New York Cosmos, we had a lot of young players. I don’t know if they wanted to make me happy or they were afraid to stay with the ball, but I had to tell them, “Don’t give every ball to me. We have to play as a team.”

Why did you come out of retirement to play for the Cosmos?

The first time I retired, Brazil had won the 1970 World Cup, and I was the best player in the tournament. But the next World Cup was a few years away, so I said, “No, I’m not going to play any more.” Then I started to get lots of invitations—from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Bayern Munich. In the United States, football was just starting, and my friend Steve Ross, the president of Warner Communications, wanted to help. They called me, and I said OK because it was different from playing in Europe. It was coming back to promote football in this country.

When you finally stopped playing professionally, how hard was it to adjust?

It was a little difficult for the first two years to be off the field, out of the crowd. Even if I was playing with the kids at camps or universities or clinics, I missed it a lot because it was all my life. But I did a lot, God help me, and I think I stopped at my best.

You came from a humble background and gained fame at a young age. How did you handle that transition?

I have a very good family that supports me when I need it. I’ve always been in football, which I love, and then with the public, which I love too. Of course, I had to change my life a little bit and lose some privacy. But my personality grew into it through the years.

Many people complain about the negative effects of money on sports today. Should top players make such high salaries?

Yes, because football is not a normal profession where you can work until you’re 80. The good players, even the best in the world, can play only until 34, 35, maximum 40. But then they have to live. The problem is how the money is spent. Now, with TV and sponsors, some teams and players make a lot; others nothing.

You’ve served as a spokesman for many companies. How do you decide which ones to endorse?

When a company approaches me, I think first of all about what message it sends to the kids. I get a lot of proposals to do commercials for cigars, alcohol, beer. Lots of coaches and players do. But I’m never going to endorse those brands because they’re not good for young people.

You continue to be a world traveler. How do you relax?

I have a little farm in a small town away from São Paulo. We have a lake, a river, agriculture, a horse. When I’m tired, I spend one week there. It’s perfect.

A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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